Nursery growth of banana (Musa spp.) plantlets rooted on auxin-free and auxin-supplemented media

Abstract

This paper describes the effects of auxin added to the culture medium on main and branch root formation of banana (Musa spp.) shoots and growth characters of the plantlet rooted on the medium with and without auxin. Banana shoots cultured in vitro on Murashige and Skoog medium supplemented with 2 μM 1-naphthylacetic acid (NAA), rooted earlier and also had more adventitious roots than those cultured on the medium without NAA. However, the adventitious roots formed on the medium without NAA showed more lateral branching. Plant height and number of leaves per plantlet in in vitro culture were not influenced by the addition of NAA but under nursery conditions, plantlets rooted without NAA showed better growth in terms of days to the appearance of new leaf, plant height and number of leaves per plant. This might be due to the presence of abundant lateral roots. Even though auxins are generally known to promote rooting, NAA inhibited the formation of lateral roots in Banana plants.